The Era of the DotCom Professor
June 15th, 2006 by Grant in: Technology
I came across an interesting post from a BusinessWeek blogger on how the internet will effectively level the playing field between larger, big name universities and smaller schools.
It’s an interesting subject, and I think it falls in line with a major topic on David Houle’s site concerning “disintermediation“.
While I don’t think the internet will eliminate the professor all together, I do think it will revolutionize the link between professor and student. Thinking back to my last years (~’00 - ‘02) in college, my department brought in a young, tech savvy associate professor from the industry to fill a gap in new technology courses.
Instantly I found myself using email more than ever before, collaborating with my fellow group members on projects we were doing. Before long, I found that I was uploading PowerPoint presentations to the web for review by students at other colleges.
Other departments caught on and started using a “WhiteBoard” program which was in essence a simplified instant messaging program with the ability to draw charts and take notes in real time. If students didn’t have the time (or desire) to attend a group discussion session in person, they could log on from their dorm rooms (ask me how efficient that turned out to be!).
I think it’s interesting that so many courses are being offered online. With online collaboration growing, I can’t help but imagine how many job descriptions will be re-written in the future.
A question to the readers: If you are currently in college (or even high school), how do you see the internet affecting the way you interact with your teachers/professors?
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June 15th, 2006 at 11:20 pm
Grant-
Thank you for the mention. We are addressing the same issues at the same time, which certainly means something. Today I made a post of an interview I gave regarding the future of education and online learning:
http://www.evolutionshift.com/blog/2006/06/15/an-interview-with-futurist-david-houle/
I am not sure about the detailed specifics about college courses and the Internet as I think the answers to those questions lie with the specific college and particular professors.
I do believe that professors will not get disintermediated, but institutions and the delivery systems might. When we all think back to our college years - your memory short term compared to mine -it is not the text books or the content that we remember but rather the incredible professor who made things come alive or the discovery of a whole new field of study that was exhilarating. Those are the aha moments.
I have always loved the commentary that if someone was transported from the 1600s to the present day, they would look at airplanes and ask what is that? They would look at cars and say what is that? They would look at skyscrapers and say, what is that, but when shown the classroom on a college campus they would say, oh a college classroom! Nothing much has changed. That of course is as good a reason as any that change is about to happen.
I am curious about how college students, or recent college students will respond to your question.
DavidHoule
June 17th, 2006 at 9:02 pm
I recently tried to emplement an online course on trading at a local university. They weren’t for it because they weren’t clear how they could get paid.
June 18th, 2006 at 5:15 pm
Larry - I think you’d charge for access to the course, wouldn’t you?
Also, I fixed the link to the BusinessWeek article…
-Grant